Refrigerating apparatus



July 21, 1942. J. w. JACOBS REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed NOV. 12, 1940 J n M z/Zcos oonvonvo aooooqe Muo 00000 Patented July 21, 1942 STATES REFRIGERATING APPARATUS James W. Jacobs, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Dayton, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application November 12, 1940, Serial No. 365,324

9 Claims.

This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and particularly to household refrigerators. In household refrigerating apparatuses, the

sulated food storage chamber containing an evaporator of a closed refrigerant circulating system and a machine compartment located below the food chamber for housing the refrigerant circulating unit that is connected to the evaporator of the closed refrigerating system. The 10 circulating unit of the refrigerating system assorefrigerant circulating unit within the machine ciated with the cabinet, is utilized to ventilate compartment compresses and liquefles refrigerfood products stored in a bin located, within 9. ant within the closed system. Others have proportion of the machine compartment. vided a draweror bin at the front of the ma- A still further object of my invention is to prochine compartment and have set forth that the I5 vide a storage bin withina refrigerator cabinet drawer or movable bin is intended for utilization that is continuously ventilated by air circulatas a reservestorage for fruits and vegetables. ing therethrough and which bin projects out- Up to the present time, however, such storage wardly from the front wall of the cabinet and drawers or bins have not been entirely satisfacis provided with an open top portion, normally tory because the user of a refrigerator equipped closed by the door of the refrigerated food stor= with the same has found that heat generated by age chamber and Opened uncovered y move the refrigerant liqueiying and circulating unit merit of the door into its open position, for per soon dries out many food'products placed in the mittin 0001 a f om e fo c ambe to f o drawer or bin. For example, the temperature into the bin to cool and ventilate the contents within a machine compartment of a refrigerator 5 thereof. cabinet often rises to 110 F. and therefore poy In carrying out the foregoing objects, it is a tatoes, beets, turnips, onions, apples, pears and more specific object of my invention to provide other food products placed in the reserve storage a food storage bin at the front of a machine com= drawer or bin associated with the machine compartment of a household refrigerator cabinet partment is heated far above room temperature which bin is provided with apertures in a hotby heat generated by the refrigerant liquefying tom wall portion, projecting beyond the cabinet and circulating unit. Thus the user of a refrigfront wall, and apertures in its inner wall for crating apparatus equipped with a storage drawpermitting air exteriorly of the cabinet to flow er or bin exposed to the heat of the machine into the bin at a point adjacent the bottom of compartment has been compelled to employ the the cabinet and thence through the bin and the drawer or bin for the storage of such articles as machine compartment for ventilating the inpots, pans, and other kitchen utensils instead of terior of the bin and for removing heat from the food products. My invention is therefore directmachine compartment. ed to the making of a storage bin associated with Further objects and advantages of the present the machine compartment of a household refriginvention will be apparent from the following crating apparatus practical for the proper storage description, reference being had to the accom of food products. panying drawing, wherein a preferred form of An object of my invention is to provide an imthe present invention is clearly shown. proved household refrigerating apparatus having In the drawing: a storage bin associated with the machine com- Fig. i is a front view of a household refrig= partment of the refrigerator cabinet by permiterator cabinet having my invention embodied ting air to circulate through the bin whereby therein and showing the door to the refrigerated food products stored therein will be properly food storage chamber in open position; ventilated and prevented from absorbing heat Fig. 2 is a side viewof the refrigerator cabinet from the refrigerating unit mounted in the me.- disclosed in Fig. 1; chine compartment. r Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of Another object of my inventionis to provide a the refrigerator cabinet taken on the line 3-8 household refrigerating apparatus with a food of Fig. 1 showing a food "storage bin associated storage bin associated with the machine comwith the machine compartment thereof; 'and partment thereof which bin is so constructed and cabinet thereof is usually provided with an in- I arranged that cool air from the refrigerator food storage chamber of the refrigerator cabinet will flow intothe bin to cool and ventilate the contents when the door providing access to the food chamber is opened.

A further object of my invention is to provide a refrigerator cabinet wherein air circulating through the machine compartment thereof, to remove heat from the refrigerant liquefying' and Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken on with a condenser 23, formin apart of the line H of Fig. 3 showing apertures in walls of the storage bin.

Referring to the drawing, I show in Fig. 1 thereof a refrigerating apparatus in the form of a household refrigerator cabinet generally represented by the reference character l0. Cabinet 10 includes a plurality of metal walls ll forming an outer shell or wall surfaces of the cabinet and a liner member l2 within the upper portion of the cabinet surrounded by any suitable insulating material ll (see Fig. 3) and forming walls of a food storage chamber l5. The walls ll extend downwardly beyond the insulated chamber l5 to enclose a machine compartment H5 at the bottom of cabinet 10. Front wall ll of cabinet l and the front of liner member [2 each have an opening therein registering with one another to provide an access opening leading to the interior of chamber l5. An insulated door structure l8, having a portion l9, extending into the access opening of chamber i5, and a wider edge portion 2| overlapping the access opening of chamber l and engaging the cabinet front wall ll, normally closes the chamber i5. Door i8 is pivotally mounted about a vertical axis upon the front of cabinet l0 and swings horizontally to open the access opening of the chamber IS. The back wall ll of machine compartment i3 is provided with an aperture 23 therein (see Fig. 3) and the front wall I I has an opening 24 provided therein (see Fig. 4). Other walls H of cabinet erence character 35 is pivotally mounted by hinges 36 upon the front wall H of 'cabinet I3 (see Fig. 3). Bin-like element 35 comprises a front wall 31, a backwall 33, a bottom wall 33 and two side walls 4|. The bin 35 is mounted so that its front portion extends outwardly beyond the front wall H of cabinet l0 and is provided with a handle or knob 42 for facilitating movement of same about its pivotal mountings 33. Bin element 35 forms a cover for closing the opening 24 in the front wall of machine compartment l6 of the refrigerator [0. A bracket 43 secured to the under side of the bottom wall of chamber l5 forms a stop for the inward movement of bin 35 to thereby maintain the bin in the projected position described. A bracket 44 may be secured to the front portion of compartment l6 and disposed in the path of movement of the back ball 38 of bin 35 so as to be engaged by this wall 38 for preventing the bin from moving outwardly of compartment i6, about its pivotal mounting beyond the fully open position thereof indicated by the dot-dash lines in Fig. 3, of the drawing. Front wall 31 of bin 35 is disposed substantially in the same vertical plane with the outer face of the food chamber door IS. The open top of bin 35 or at least that portion of its top which projects outwardly beyond I0 close the sides of the machine compartment l6 and this compartment is closed at its bottom by the floor upon which the refrigerator cabinet rests. An evaporator 25 of a closed refrigerating system is mounted withincabinet 10 and located in the upper portion'of the food storage chamber i5. Evaporator 25 is connected with a motor-compressor unit 26 by a conduit 21 and the unit, by a conduit 29. The elements 23 and 23 form a refrigerant compressing and liquefying unit, mounted upon suitable mounting brackets within the machine compartment l8, and this unit draws evaporated refrigerant from evaporator 25, through conduit 21, into the motor-compressor where it is compressed and forwarded, through a conduit 3|, to the condenser 23. Condenser 23 is preferably vertically disposed in the space provided by the aperture 23 in the back wall I I of compartment l6 and a flue forming member is secured to the cabinet back wall for a purpose to be hereinafter more fully described. Heat is removed from the condenser, in a manner to be presently described, for liquefying the compressed refrigerant and the liquefied refrigerant is circulated through conduit 29 to the evaporator 25, for vaporization therein to cause the evaporator to produce a refrigerating cifect within' the'food storage chamber l5. The refrigerating eflect produced by evaporator 25 cools and causes circulation of air within the chamber l5 to preserve food products stored in this chamber. Refrigerated chamber superimposed food storage spaces of shelves 33 upon ported. Any conventional control device 35, mounted upon the unit 26, may have electrical connections with a suitable switch (not shown) actuated in response to the temperature produced by a plurality l5 may be divided intowhich the food may be supby the evaporator 25 for controlling the starting and stopping of the motor-compressor as is well known in the art.

In the present disclosure of a food storage binlike element, represented as a whole by e teriorly of compartment the front wall of cabinet [0 is normally covered or concealed by the bottom edge portion 2| of door It when this door is in its closed position. A plurality of substantially round spaced apart apertures 43 are provided in the back wall 38 of the bin element 35 and a plurality of spaced apart elongated apertures 41 are provided in the projecting bottom wall portion 39 of the bin.

According to the of the bin-like element 35 is continuously ventilated and various food products may be stored therein without danger of absorbing heat from the machine compartment l5 and being dried out. ,In the normal use of the apparatus, food products of various kinds are stored within the bin 35 and air, of a temperature of from 65 to 75 F., from the room in which therei'rigerator I0 is located, circulates through the apertures 41 in the bottom wall 35, into the bin and around foods therein and out of the bin 35 through the apertures 46 in its back wall 33. The air entering the machine compartment l5 through the bin 35 sweeps over the motor-compressor 23 and over the condenser 28 in its passage out of the compartment 16 through the aperture 23 in its back wall ll. Air flowing from compartment it enters the flue 30 wherein it rises and flows therefrom back into the room. This thermo-syphon circulation of air takes place due to the relatively low temperature of air ex- IB near the floor or at the entrance to the bin, as compared to the higher temperature, say for example, to F. of air within compartment l8 and caused by heat generated by the refrigerant circulating unit disposed therein. .It is, of course, to be understood that a fan could be mounted within the machine compartment l6 and operated simultaneously with operation of motor-compressor 26 to augment this air circulation or to force the air through the bin 35 and machine compartment IS without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. The substantially continuous flow of air through bin 35 and machine compartment l3 ventilates the contents of the bin and maintains food products stored therein at approximately room temperature. In other words.

present invention, the interior the contents of bin 35 are prevented, by air circulating through the bin, from absorbing the high temperature of compartment i6 and the food products are thereby prevented from being dried out by heat generated by the refrigerant liquefying and circulating unit.

In addition to the continuous how of air through bin 35 and around foods stored therein, my invention provides for the cooling of the contents of the bin when the door It of the refrigerated food chamber I is opened. As before stated, the door it, when in its position to close the access opening of chamber l5, normally closes or conceals the open top portion of bin which projects outwardly beyond the front wall ll of cabinet i0 and when this door it is opened, the projecting open top portion of bin 35 is normally disposed in the path of cold air which escapes from the refrigerated food chamber IS. The cold air escaping from chamber i5, when door it is opened flows downwardly around the front edge of the bottom wall of chamber it through the open top projecting portion of bin 35 into the bin to cool the contents thereof and to aid in ventilating food products stored in the bin. Cool air circulating into the bin may flow out of the bin through either of the sets of apertures It and 4? in the walls thereof. Cool air flowing through the apertures 55 in the back wall 88 of bin 35 absorbs heat from compartment i6, motor-compressor 26 and condenser 28, and flows outwardly of the compartment through the aperture 23 in its back wall into the flue 8i! and upwardly therethrough.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that I have provided an improved household refrigerat ing apparatus wherein food products stored in a bin disposed in the machine compartment thereof are prevented from absorbing heat from the refrigerant liquefying and circulating unit located in the compartment and are thereby prevented from being dried out by such heat. My invention renders an auxiliary or reserve food storage bin in a refrigerator cabinet practical and usable for the proper storage of foods and eliminates the old practice of utilizing such a bin for the storage of pots, pans and other kitchen utensils. By ventilating a reserve food storage bin in the manner herein disclosed, foods stored therein are maintained substantially at room temperature and will not attain such a high temperature as is frequently found to be existing within the machine compartment. The feature of permitting cold air which escapes from the lower portion of the refrigerated chamber, when the access door thereto is periodically opened, to flow into the vegetable storage bin,-cools the contents thereof below the temperature of the air in the room in which the refrigerator cabinet is located insures proper ventilation and preservation of foods placed in a storage bindisposed beyond the refrigerated chamber.

Whilethe form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming ,within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows: a f

1. A refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a cabinet having a plurality of walls mounted within said machine compartment and least that portion of the top of said element located beyond the front wall of said cabinet bein open, and said open top portion of said element being substantially closed by a bottom edge of said door-when the door is in its closed position and opened when said door is moved into open position to permit cool air from said food chamber to flow into said bin-like element for cooling the contents thereof.

2. A refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a cabinet having a plurality of walls forming a food storage chamber therein and a machine compartment below the food chamber, an

. evaporator of a closed refrigerating system mounted within said cabinet for cooling the food storage chamber, a refrigerant liquefying unit mounted within said machine compartment and connected to said evaporator for circulating a refrigerating fluid thereth'rough, said food storage chamberbeing provided with an access opening in the front thereof, a door for normally closing said chamber access opening, the front wall of said machine compartment having an opening therein, a bin-like element movably mounted upon said cabinet and forming a cover for the opening in said machine compartment wall, the front wall of said bin-like element being located outwardly beyond the front wall of said cabinet, other wall portions of said element having openings therein, at least that portion of the top of said element located beyond the. front wall of said cabinet being open, and said open top portion of said element being substantially closed by a bottom edge of said door when the door is in its closed position and opened when said door is moved into open position to permit cool air from said food chamber to flow into said bin-like element and outwardly therefrom through the openings in said other wall portions thereof.

3. A refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a cabinet having a plurality of walls forming. a food storage chamber therein and a machine compartment below the food chamber, an evaporator of a closed refrigerating system mounted within said cabinet/for cooling ing unit mounted within said machine compartforming a food storage chamber therein and a machine compartment below the food chamber, an evaporator of a closed refrigerating system mounted within said cabinet for cooling the food storage chamber, a refrigerant liqucfying unit went and connected to said evaporator for circulating a refrigerating fluid therethrough, said food storage chamber being provided with an access opening in the front thereof, a door for normally closing said chamber access opening, the front wall of said machine compartment having an opening therein, another wall of said machine compartment being provided with an aperture therein, a bin-like element movably mounted upon said cabinet and forming a cover for the opening in the front wall of said machine compartment, the front wall of said bin-like element beinglocated outwardly beyond the front wall of said cabinet, at least 'thatporti'on of the top of saidelement located beyond the front wall of said cabinetbeing open, the inner wall of said element having apertures therein, and said open top portion of said element being substantially closed by a bottom edge of said door when the door is in its closed position and opened when said door is moved into open position to permit cool air from said food chamber to flow into said bin-like element and outwardly thereof through the apertures in its inner wall into said compartment and thence outwardly of the compartment through the aperture in said another wall thereof.

4. A refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a cabinet having a plurality of walls forming a food storage chamber therein and a machine compartment beyond the food chamber, an evaporator of a closed refrigerating system mounted within said cabinet for cooling the food storage chamber, a refrigerant liquefying unit mounted within said machine compartment and connected to said evaporator for circulating a refrigerating fluid therethrough, one side wall of said machine compartment having an aperture therein and another side wall thereof being provided with an opening, a bin-like element movably mounted upon said cabinet and forming a cover for the opening in said another wall of the machine compartment, and said binlike element being so constructed and arranged as to permit air exteriorly of said cabinet to circulate therethrough into said machine compartment and outwardly of the machine compartment through the aperture in its said one side wall whereby the circulating air ventilates the interior of said element and removes heat from said machine compartment.

5. A refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a cabinet having a plurality of walls forming a food storage chamber therein and a machine compartment below the food chamber,

an evaporator of a closed refrigerating system mounted within said cabinet for cooling the food storage chamber, a refrigerant liquefying unit mounted within said machine compartment and connected with said evaporator for circulating a refrigerating fluid therethrough, the back wall of said machine compartment having an aperture therein and the front wall thereof bein provided with an opening, a bin-like element movably mounted upon said cabinet and forming a cover for the opening in said compartment front wall, at least a portion of the bottom of said bin-like element being located outwardly beyond the front wall of said cabinet, said portion of the bottom of said element being disposed above the bottom ofsaid cabinet and having apertures therein, the inner wall of said element also having apertures therein, and said apertures in said element permitting air from exteriorly of said cabinet to circulate through said bin-like element into said machine compartment and outwardly thereof through the aperture in its back wall.

6. A refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a cabinet having a plurality of walls forming a food storage chamber therein and a machine compartment below the food chamber, an evaporator of a closed refrigerating system mounted within said cabinet for cooling the food storage chamber, a refrigerant liquefying unit mounted within said machine compartment and connected to said evaporator for circulating a refrigerating fluid therethrough, said food storage chamber being provided with an access opening in the front wall of said cabinet, a door for wall of said machine compartment having an aperture therein and the front wall thereof being provided with an opening, a bin-like element movably mounted upon said cabinet and forming a cover for the opening in the front wall of said compartment, the front wall and at least a part of the bottom of said element being located outwardly beyond the front wall of -said cabinet, at least the top portion of said element outwardly beyond the cabinet front wall being open and normally closed by a bottom edge of said door, said bottom part of said element being disposed above the bottom of said cabinet and having apertures therein, the inner wall of said element also having apertures therein, the apertures in said bottom part and said inner wall of said element permitting air from exteriorly of said cabinet to circulate through said element into said the back machine compartment and outwardly thereof through the aperture in its back wall, and said door when moved from its normally closed position into open position uncovering the open top portion of said element to permit cool air from said food chamber to flow thereinto.

7. A refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a cabinet having a plurality of walls forming a food storage chamber therein and a compartment beyond the food chamber, an evaporator of a closed refrigerating system mounted within said cabinet for cooling the food storage chamber, said food chamber being provided with an access opening in the front thereof, a door for normally closing said chamber access opening, the front wall of said compartment having an opening therein, a bin-like element movably mounted upon said cabinet and forming a cover for the opening in the front wall of said compartment, the front portion of said bin-like element being located outwardly beyond the front wall of said cabinet, that portion of the top of said element located beyond the front wall of said cabinet having an opening therein, that portion of the bottom of said element located beyond the front wall of said cabinet having an opening therein, one of the openings in said element permitting air exteriorly of said cabinet to enter said element for ventilating the interior thereof, and the other of the openings in said element being substantially concealed by an edge of said door when the door is in its closed position.

8. A refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a cabinet having a plurality of walls forming a food storage chamber therein and a compartment below the food chamber, an evaporator of a closed refrigerating system mounted within said cabinet for cooling the food storage chamber, said food chamber being provided with an access opening in the front thereof, a door fen-normally closing said chamber access opening, the front wall of said compartment having an opening therein, a bin-like element movably mounted upon said cabinet and forming a cover for the opening in the front wall of said compartment, the front portion of said bin-like element being located outwardly beyond the front wall of said cabinet, that portion of the top of said element located beyond the front wall normally closing said chamber access opening,-

of said cabinet having an opening therein, that portion of the bottom of said element located beyond the front wall of said cabinet having an opening therein. the opening insaid portion of the bottom of said element permitting air exteriorly of said cabinet to enter said element for ventilating the inter or thereof, and the opening therein and another wall thereof having an opening therein. cover means for the opening in the second mentioned wall, said cover means comprising a bin-like element having openings therein, whereby air may circulate through said element into said compartment and outwardly of the compartment through the aperture in its one wall for ventilating the interior of saidrelement and for cooling said member.

JAMES w. JACOBS. 

